Disrupting traditional education where kids drop out

Shearwater International aims to keep international students from dropping out of college, by building an online platform that connects them with young alumni who have been trained as mentors. CEO Jackson Boyar says that while international students spend $27 billion on tuition, room, and board each year, roughly 40 percent of them haven’t graduated after six years. Shearwater wants to supply a support system that will change that statistic — and eventually ensure that those students give back to their alma mater as donors. Shearwater is already working with two dozen colleges and boarding schools, Boyar says — and 19 of them are paying customers.